Condiment and toothpick holder



March 7, 1950 1.. A. SMITH CONDIMENT AND TOOTHPICK HOLDER Filed May 15,1946 Patented Mar. 7, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates tocondiment holders and more particularly to acombined holder for several different condiments and other articles astoothpicks.

An object of this invention is to provide a condiment holder which is soconstructed that several condiments as salt and pepper may be separatelycontained in a single dispenser and to provide for holding other usefularticles as toothpicks in a container between the other compartments.

Another object of this invention is to provide a transparent condimentand toothpick holder having a removable base which is attached to thebody of the holder by a resilient clamp fixed to the base and to providea spring pressed cover for the tooth pick compartment.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a transparentcondiment and toothpick holder made of plastic or other suitablematerial wherein the several condiments are contained in the same body,being separated by a vertical wall, a portion of the vertical wallforming a recess in which toothpicks or similar articles may be stored,and a spring pressed cover for the recess.

With the above and other objects in View, my invention consists in thearrangement, combination and details of construction disclosed in thedrawings and specification, and then more particularly pointed out inthe appended claim.

In the drawings,

W herein similar reference characters designate similar parts throughoutthe respective views,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a condiment and toothpick holderconstructed according to an embodiment of this invention,

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 isa horizontal sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure3,

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail view, partly broken away and partly insection, of the spring and hinged cover.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral in designates generally the bodyof a combined condiment and toothpick holder constructed according to anembodiment of my invention. The body It is formed of a hollowtransparent body, substantially elliptical in cross section, which isclosed at the upper end with an outer layer or cover H which is fixed toor formed on the body l0, and is open at the lower end.

A vertical central wall I2 is fixed between the inner sides of the bodyIn and extends upwardly from the bottom edges substantially past thevertical center of the body l0 and is continued upwardly to the top ofthe cover H by a pair of spaced apart vertical walls l4 connectedtogether at their lower end and to the wall l2 by a horizontal bottomforming member 15. The cover H is formed with an opening is between thevertical walls M whereby an upwardly opening receptacle I1 is formedwithin the body in above the central wall I2 an outer layer or cap Haextends over the cover H and has downwardly directed flanges engagingwithin the opening IS. A second pair of vertical walls l8 are fixedbetween the walls l4 and extend upwardly from the bottom forming memberIE to provide internal end walls for the receptacle or compartment H.The walls I2 and I4 divide the body l0 then into three compartments orsections ll, l9 and 20. The cover H and outerlayer Ha are further formedwith openings 2| in the opposite sides thereof which open into thesections 19 and 2B for dispensing salt and pepper or other suitablematerial from their respective compartments.

For holding the material in the sections 19, and 20, there is provided aflat base 22, also made of plastic, substantially wider than the body Itand having an upwardly extending flange 24 extending from the topthereof for engagement about the outer sides of the lower Open end ofthe body Ill. A pair of spaced apart opposed resilient clamping members26 are fixed to the center of the base 22 and are adapted tofrictionally engage the lower end of the wall l2 therebetween forclamping the base 22 to the body 10. The

' members 26 are substantially L-shaped being fixed to the base 22 byrivets 21 or other suitable fastening means through the lower armthereof. The upwardly extending arms are flared outwardly at their upperend to provide for readily sliding the wall l2 between the opposedmembers 26.

Extending above the layer Ha and over the opening IS an invertedU-shaped arcuate cover 28 is hingedly secured. The cover 28 is hingedlyfastened by a pintle 29 which extends through the lower ends of the sidewalls of the cover 28 and a pair of laterally spaced apart ears 30 onthe layer I la. A curved cover operating lever or handle 3| is formed onthe cover 28 and extends from the opposite side of the pintle 29 so thatdownward movement on the handle 3| will raise the cover 28 to openposition. The cover 28 is constantly urged to closed spring 32 coiledabout the lower side of position by a the pintle 29, one end of whichspring engages the handle 3| and the other end engaging the outside ofthe body [0.

Thus there is provided a condiment holder having two downwardly openingcompartments and an upwardly opening compartment, a cover for the lowerend, and a spring pressed cover for the upper end.

I do not mean to confine myself to the exact details of constructionherein disclosed, but claim all variations falling within the purview ofthe appended claim.

Having thus described claim is:

A combined condiment and article holder comprising a hollow tubularbody, a vertical central wall in said body having the upper end thereofterminating intermediate the length of said body, an elongated fiattransverse member fixed to said upper end and having the opposite endsthereof engaging said body, a pair of spaced apart vertical wallsextending upwardly from the opposite side edges of said transversemember, an arcuate end wall at the top of said body, a rectangularcentral opening in said end wall having the edges there of formedintegral with the upper ends of said spaced apart walls, an outer capcovering said end wall and formed with depending flanges thereonfrictionally engaging said tubular body, a downwardly flanged opening insaid cap communicating with said central end wall opening,

my invention, what I a substantially U-shaped closure member havingVertical side walls formed with arcuate cut-outs in the lower edgesthereof for closing engagement with said cap around the marginal edgesof said REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in thefile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 813,649 Jones Feb. 27, 1906847,726 Brannon Mar. 19, 1907 918,115 Baeder et al Apr. 13, 19091,110,398 Moran Sept. 15, 1914 1,293,788 Jaklich Feb. 11, 1919 1,425,328Medici et al Aug. 8, 1922 1,463,543 Baeder July 31, 1923 1,529,521Westendorf Mar. 10, 1925 1,581,667 Baldwin Apr. 20, 1926 1,600,815 Galloet al Sept. 21, 1926 1,602,745 Binkele Oct. 12, 1926 1,862,057 LewisJune 7, 1932 2,273,727 Rowen et a1 Feb. 17, 1942 2,354,004 Fess July 18,1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 1,701 Great Britain Apr. 26,1880 7,970 Great Britain Apr. 27, 1892

